Instead of sending more weapons to Ukraine, the West should focus on trying to resolve the Ukraine conflict through peaceful means, former Czech President Vaclav Klaus has argued in an op-ed.
“The war in Ukraine has been going on for seven weeks. … People are dying,” Klaus wrote in a piece published on the news website iDNES, last week.
“Yet, no serious peace talks are taking place. On the contrary. Instead of calls for such negotiations, we are hearing battlecries and reports of an increase in supply of modern weapons [to Ukraine].”
Klaus, who led the Czech Republic between 2003 and 2013 and also previously served two terms as prime minister, raised doubt about whether the current conflict was limited to just Russia and Ukraine. “Isn’t it actually a conflict between the West and Russia, in which Ukraine is an unfortunate, albeit convenient object?” he wrote.
The former president argued that “the West and Russia must sit down at the negotiations table as soon as possible.” He also suggested that the US, EU and China should participate in the talks.
I have always been terribly ashamed of the way the Czechs had treated Ukrainian migrants working in our country, both legally and illegally. Now suddenly everyone is gushing with love for Ukraine and Ukrainians. Is this love not just a ‘cover for hatred of Russia’, as one official, whom I don’t know personally, wrote to me in an email?
“Hating someone is a bad and flimsy motive for loving someone else. The tragic situation in Ukraine can’t be solved with love and/or hate. Reason and cold pragmatism must prevail,” Klaus wrote.